


Winter spy

by RucyL



Category: Layton Brothers: Mystery Room, Layton Kyouju Series | Professor Layton Series
Genre: F/M, winter holidays
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:14:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21954952
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RucyL/pseuds/RucyL
Summary: When you hear rumours that your best friend from highschool and your brother might be dating, it's impossible to not be interested. But how do you check the vericity of the gossips when you have other—more lucrative—cases to solve?
Relationships: Ernest Greeves & Katrielle Layton, Lucy Baker/Alfendi Layton
Comments: 3
Kudos: 30





	Winter spy

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally a Secret Santa in 2017 to my friend Cottonyst, who had asked for “The prof and Lucy together, if possible on a date, with his family and/or the Yard snooping”.

“Miss Layton, you look rather… distressed,” said the young man, as he poured the content of a kettle in two cups. “Perhaps some tea might help?”

The girl he was talking to kept staring at the wall, where some photos and handwritten notes had been pinned. She changed the weight of her body from one leg to another a couple of times before grumbling in frustration. 

“What I need now are answers! Or the ability to be in two places at the same time!” she turned around. “So, no, thank you, Ernest—” Her attention was caught by the cookies on the table. “—but, ah, on a second thought, could you please throw me one of those?”

“Throw, miss?” 

She nodded.

Ernest tossed one cookie to the other side of the room. Kat caught it between her hands and devoured it within two seconds, while turning around to look at the notes pinned to the wall again.

“See, Pinstripes? I told you she would want the cookies,” said Sherl, laying in his basket.

“That’s because one cannot think with his stomach empty!” claimed Kat. “Wasn’t that was Sherlock Holmes always said?”

“Actually, what Holmes said—” Ernest tried to correct her.

“My point is! I have to think about these two cases! I have to choose one as soon as possible. And I need food when I think.” She pointed to different pictures in the wall.

“That’s easy, isn’t it?” opined the dog. “Choose the one that is better paid.”

“Well… One of them it’s not paid at all... But it could be a disaster!” She raised her hands dramatically. “A tragedy! Catastrophe!” 

“Wow, it seems like a very conflicted situation,” commented Ernest. “What about the other one?”

“It’s about a theft in the house of a friend of the Seven Dragons. Apparently, a painting valued in a million pounds has vanished.”

“And that’s not a ‘catastrophe’?” asked Sherl, turning around in the basket. “Well, even if you can’t be in two places at the same time, you can always send Pinstripes here to one of them.”

Katrielle opened her eyes widely.

“That’s a great idea, Sherl!” she said.

“See, I—”

“Ernest, get you things ready, we’re going to investigate the theft. Sherl, you’ll be the one investigating the probable potential disaster.” 

“What, me?! But, I’m a dog, remember?” he protested.

“And that’s why this is a perfect job for you.” She smiled while saying that, but in a way Sherl didn’t like.

***********

‘Potential disaster, she said. A tragedy, catastrophe,’ thought Sherl. ‘Catastrophe, my tail. This case only requires a bit of paw-work.’

He wandered through the crowd, looking for the people whose pictures Kat had showed him. Apparently, his mission was to find those two and investigate whether they were dating or not. And if they were, that would be the disaster she was talking about.

But it sure was difficult to find anything in that place. As winter holidays aproached, mayor Lowonida had organized some events, like that street market besides the river. The market opened when it was already dark, but it had lots of beautiful and sparkling lights shining over it, so many people came to see the stands.

Sherl quickly got tired of searching between human legs. He left the market and walked to the part of the park that had not so many people, but was still beautifully illuminated.

And, of course, they were there.

Sherl was only seeing their backs, so he rushed a bit until he was right next to them. They were indeed the two in the photos. The man, which he had recognized by his purple ponytail, was really thin and had a nose bigger than any nose Sherl thought it could exist. The woman was way shorter, clearly younger than him. She had short brownish hair and red eyes. And, as Kat had suspected, they were clearly dating.

“So, where are we going next?”

“Hmm, aren’t you hungry, Prof? I’m sure there were a pizza restaurant around here...”

“Well, I’m sure ready to have dinner, but what about you, Lucy? Didn’t you just eat a whole piece of cotton candy by yourself?”

“Aye, but that were nowt! I have a second stomach for desserts, don’t you know?” she laughed. The man, ‘Prof’, looked slightly worried but finally smiled.

“If you do say so...”

They continued chatting and walking together, the girl clinging to the man’s arm, until she spotted the dog that had been walking along with them.

“Aw, look at that! Isn’t he cute?” Lucy kneeled and started petting him.

“I’m not cute, but you’re good at petting” muttered Sherl. The man crouched right next to her and looked at Sherl like he was scanning him.

“He doesn’t have a collar. Maybe he is stray.”

“Oh no, poor thing.” She picked Sherl up “Can we have it, please?”

“Eh… we?”

“Aye, they don’t allow pets in my apartment, so maybe we can have him int’ Mystery Room. He can be our mascot!” 

“I’m afraid animals are not welcome at the Yard either, Lucy.” 

“Ee, what a pity...”

“Hmm… If he’s stray, he’ll sure be hungry. Maybe we can buy him something—” suggested the man.

“Aye! There were a stand selling sausages, weren’t there? I’ll go buy some! Wait for me here, you two.” said Lucy, as she put Sherl back in the ground and started running back to the festival.

The man called Prof waved at her for a moment, and then smiled. Sherl sitted, waiting for her to get back. Suddenly, Al’s smile turned into a creepy grin. Something about him had changed.

“Kat sent you here to spy us, right?” he inquired. Sherl jumped in surprise. 

“How do you—?!” 

“Oh, don’t bother. I can’t understand you, but I’m sure you do understand me. So sit again and listen.” 

“I’m not sitt—”

“Stop barking or I’ll have to make you stop,” he threatened. Sherl didn’t say anything more. “Fine. Kat has sent animals to spy me a lot of times, so it was obvious you were here because of her. It was a mistake telling her I was coming to the festival, anyway.” 

He kneeled and looked right into the dog’s eyes.

“So, here’s a deal. You can have the sausages if you tell Kat that we were buying her a present and, of course, not dating. If you don’t want to tell her that, you can go back to Chancer Lane right now, but, in that case, I can’t assure you will live another dog year. Am I clear?” 

Prof smiled, but in a way Sherl didn’t like, just like Kat had done some hours before.

“You can’t assure… Is that a threat?” asked Sherl. “You sure were much nicer to the girl.”

“Choose quickly,” he said, while pointing to the distance. Lucy was coming back. 

Sherl stayed where he was.

“I’m back!” she shouted when she was still a bit far. “Huh, Al? Did something happen?”

“Not at all. I thought I might enjoy this evening as well.”

“Nice! The more, the merrier, they say.” She smiled and then turned to offer Sherl some sausages. “Here, boy, have them.”

Sherl hesitated. 

Kat had sent him to see if those two were dating, but what if they were? They looked happy together. And even if the man looked somewhat scary, the girl had been really nice with Sherl. So, why not?

He took the sausages, causing both Lucy and Al to smile, although it was for different reasons.

*************

“They were not dating,” said the dog, as he laid down in his basket, yawning.

“Ehhhh?!” Kat grumbled. She frowned and then asked again.

“But you found them.”

“Yes,” answered the dog.

“And they were together.”

“Yes.”

“And they weren’t dating?! Come on! Al would never go to such a place if not dragged by someone,” claimed her.

Sherl sighted. First, she called the possibility of those two dating a ‘disaster’, and now she complained because they weren’t. ‘Women are surely difficult to understand.’ he thought.

“Well, I didn’t want to say this, but… They were, um, buying a present for you.”

Kat’s eyes sparkled.

“Really?!” She looked radiant.

“Yeah, but I won’t tell you what it was.”

“Fine! I’ll find out eventually.” Kat jumped of her chair in delight. “And that reminds me that I’ll have to buy presents myself too. What would you like, Sherl?”

“Anything is fine.”

“Then you’ll get nothing!” she giggled. “You have a 12 hours to think about it. Tomorrow we’ll go shopping!”


End file.
